Localities move to combat diabetes

Free check-ups and consultations on diabetes were offered at an
awareness raising event in Ho Chi Minh City on November 14 on the
life-threatening disease and healthy lifestyles.

The event is part of a series of activities in response to World Diabetes Day (November 14).

Over the last 10 years, diabetes has increased at an alarming rate of
300 percent in the city, much higher than the country’s average.

As much as 7.9 percent and 35.6 percent of the municipal adult
population suffer from diabetes and pre-diabetes, respectively.

Director of Ho Chi Minh City Nutrition Centre, Do Thi Ngoc Diep, said
the growing number of local diabetes patients is to blame on
protein-laden diets and a lack of physical activity.

Meanwhile, in northern Bac Giang province a number of projects have
been implemented to prevent and control the disease, according to Tran
Van Sinh, Deputy Director of the provincial Department of Health.

As much as 70 percent of local patients have benefitted from the projects.

Director of Bac Giang’s Endocrine Disease and Malaria Prevention
Centre, Hoang Xuan Thuc, said the centre has undertaken maximum efforts
to facilitate patients’ access to consultations, medical services and
medication, having served nearly 50,000 patients so far this year.

The locality also aims to enhance medical staff’s capacity and
communication efforts to ensure effective prevention and control of the
disease in the community.

As a chronic disease,
diabetes increases the risk of other serious health problems, such as
blindness or heart and kidney failure.

Medical
experts said diabetes and its complications can be prevented through
early treatment, staying in good physical shape and eating healthily.

In Vietnam , around five percent and 27 percent
of the population suffer from diabetes or are at risk of developing
diabetes, respectively.

Notably, 65 percent of
patients have not been officially diagnosed, and a majority of those
that have been diagnosed have yet to receive proper treatment.

In the 1990s, diabetes affected 1.2 percent of the
population of 20- to 79-year-olds. The rate jumped to 2.7 percent in
2002 and 5.7 percent in 2012.

People suffering from obesity and high blood pressure face a higher risk of developing diabetes.-VNA